Editorial No. 2: In New York City, there's no such thing as a flushable wipe

Pardon the potty talk, but we have no choice, because there’s a problem we’ve got to tackle.

When you flush a toilet, the waste travels through pipes and winds up at 14 gigantic treatment plants run by the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, which process 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater daily.

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They can handle a lot. What they can’t deal with is baby wipes and makeup wipes and disinfectant wipes. Unlike toilet paper, their plastic content does not break down; they clog sewer systems from individual apartment buildings to the treatment plants themselves.

Having to spend $19 million a year on its own clogs, mostly caused by wipes (also, kitchen grease), DEP is launching a public service campaign to urge New Yorkers not to flush wipes — any wipes. Unless it comes right from your body or is toilet paper, toss it in the trash instead (that includes dental floss and feminine hygiene products).

While a federal judge stopped the District of Columbia a year ago from deciding which wipe makers could use the label “flushable,” the judge did suggest other approaches that don’t curb First Amendment commercial speech.

The industry-backed Responsible Flushing Alliance (yes, that’s the real name) says that 7% of wipes sold contains no plastics and are 100% degradable in the sewers, it’s the other 93% that are causing the expensive damage to buildings and pipes. The safest course is to just always use the garbage pail rather than the toilet. No ifs, ands or butts.